History of the railway in Lithuania

Paneriai railway tunnel 1879

The history of the railroad in Lithuania begins in the second half of the 19th century. Between 1853 and 1862 the Petersburg-Warsaw Railway was built , which ran through Lithuania. Lithuania received several train stations. In the decades that followed, the Russian broad-gauge route network was further expanded.

During the First World War , the Germans switched the route network to standard gauge. After the First World War, the Lithuanian railway company Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai was founded in 1919 , with its headquarters and main workshops in Vilnius . After the occupation of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius by Polish troops, both were moved to Kaunas, Vilnius became a provincial train station in the network of Polskie Koleje Państwowe (PKP) and the seat of the Wilno Railway Directorate . All connections between Poland and Lithuania were interrupted until 1938.

During the Second World War , the renewed gauge change to broad gauge, which was only completed after the end of the war, all routes remained in the Soviet Union after the Second World War. After Lithuania regained independence, they belong to the re-established AB Lietuvos ležinkeliai .

Development up to the First World War

In the 19th century , when the first railways were built, Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire . The Russian railway lines were mainly created as dead straight direct connections between the large metropolises, for example the Warsaw-Petersburg Railway .

This route was the first railway line in the area of ​​today's Lithuania, as it ran between the now Belarusian city ​​of Hrodna (Russian: Grodno ) and the today's Latvian city ​​of Daugavpils (German: Dünaburg ) on the territory of the later Lithuanian state. The Warsaw-Petersburg Railway was built between 1851 and 1862. 1861 was a diversion of Vilnius on Kaunas after Wirballen ( Kybartai ), the border station of East Prussia and the connection to the in Eydtkuhnen beginning Prussian Eastern Railway to Berlin . Internationally acclaimed luxury trains such as the legendary Nord-Express traveled this route .

Between 1871 and 1874 the Libau-Romny Railway built the line from today's Latvian Liepāja ( Libau ) via Mažeikiai , Šiauliai ( Schaulen ) and Radviliškis ( Radwilischken ) to Vilnius and on in the direction of Minsk and Romny . There were also various smaller routes and cross-connections, such as the connection from Radviliškis to Griva from 1872 , shortly before Daugavpils and in 1875 the route from Mažeikiai to Riga . Like all important Russian railways, the lines were built in the Russian broad gauge of 1524 mm.

When building almost all routes, the various railway companies avoided the construction of expensive bridges and earthworks for cost reasons and largely adapted the route to the topography. Only the Warsaw-Petersburg Railway and its branch to the border at Wirballen were double-tracked. The railways were all privately built and operated, and it was not until shortly before the First World War that all broad-gauge railways in what is now Lithuania were nationalized.

The town of Memel ( Klaipėda in Lithuanian ), which then belonged to Prussia , received its rail connection in 1875 via Tilsit (now Sowetsk ) to Königsberg (now Kaliningrad ). A continuation suggested by Prussia from the end point of the railway in the border town of Bajohren to Schaulen was rejected by Russia because it saw the Memel port as competition to the ports in Libau and Windau .

Narrow-gauge railways were built from 1892 , the most important route being the 272 km long 750 mm railway from Panevėžys via Švenčionys to now Belarusian Berezwecz , which the First Russian Supply Railway Company completed in 1894.

Railway construction in the First World War

In the First World War, after defending against the Russian Army in the winter battle in Masuria, from February 1915 onwards, the German Army conquered a large part of what is now Lithuania. There was only one railway connection between the German Empire and the conquered territories, namely the Königsberg – Vilnius line. In order to solve the resulting supply problems, the German Army initially began building narrow-gauge field and war railways. After the conquest of Libau, the railway line beginning there towards Vilnius was gradually put back into operation. Since there was soon a shortage of broad-gauge locomotives and wagons, German railway troops built a standard-gauge war line from the German border town of Bajohren near Memel to the Latvian Prekuln on the Libau – Vilnius railway line and converted the latter to standard gauge. The routes in eastern Lithuania to Kaunas and Vilnius were gradually changed with the advance of the German troops. The light Russian superstructure was gradually replaced by heavier Prussian rails and ballast bed.

Construction of a war railway from the Prussian border town of Lauksargiai (Laugszargen) via Tauragė to Radviliškis began in 1915 and was completed in 1916. This was followed by a direct connection from Šiauliai to the Latvian Jelgava (German Mitau ). Further additions were the route from Kaunas to Jonava to avoid the detour via Kaišiadorys , various connecting curves and the double-track expansion between Kaišiadorys and Šiauliai. In eastern Lithuania, several narrow-gauge railways branching off from the Warsaw-Petersburg railway were also built to supply the front running east of the railway .

The State Railways of Independent Lithuania

Tk series tank locomotives acquired from the LG in 1932 from Škoda

The Lithuanian state, which became independent in 1918, founded the Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (LG) as its own state railway based in Vilnius in the same year . The LG took over a completely normal-gauge network and the various narrow-gauge railways. The Treaty of Versailles also gave LG a large number of Prussian locomotives and wagons. In 1920 Poland-Lithuania attacked (in the Polish-Lithuanian War ) and occupied parts of Lithuania, including the capital Vilnius.

Lithuania declared Kaunas the provisional capital, the LG administration took its seat in Kaunas. The border, which was not recognized by Lithuania, was completely cordoned off and rail traffic on the now cross-border routes was stopped. For its part , Lithuania annexed the Memel area in 1923 , which had been administered by the League of Nations since the end of the First World War, i.e. the part of East Prussia north of the Memel with the port city of Memel (today Klaipėda).

With Memel / Klaipeda, Lithuania now had its own Baltic port. The approximately 130 km of railway lines in the Memel area were transferred to LG along with 17 locomotives. In March 1939, Lithuania had to return the Memel area to the German Reich under pressure from Hitler. The 17 locomotives were returned to the Deutsche Reichsbahn .

Since 1925, the average speed of travel has increased steadily. The fastest train, the D 1 from Berlin to Riga via Virbalis, Kaunas and Šiauliai, covered the 86 km between Virbalis and Kaunas in 87 minutes. At the end of 1929 LG operated 1,183 km in standard gauge, 125 km in 750 mm narrow gauge and 325 km in 600 mm narrow gauge with a total of 238 locomotives, 351 passenger cars and 4,490 freight cars.

Extensive construction of new routes was planned from 1920. The existing narrow-gauge railways should be switched to standard gauge if possible. Ultimately, however, only two noteworthy projects could be realized. The Klaipėda – Šiauliai line was gradually built from 1925 onwards and completed in 1932. It enabled a direct connection to the port without detours or using the route through Latvia via Prekuln. The Šeštokai - Kazlų Rūda line was opened in 1923. It connected the line isolated by the border with Poland via Alytus to the Lithuanian rail network. In addition, several 600-mm narrow-gauge railways were gauged to 750 millimeters by 1938.

In 1938 Poland got Lithuania to reopen the border between the two countries. From April 11, 1938, trains ran again between Kaunas and Vilnius after almost 20 years. The other cross-border routes remained closed for the time being.

The vehicle fleet was modernized by the LG, but for financial reasons it was only able to procure relatively few new buildings. Only 19 standard and 13 narrow-gauge locomotives were ordered, with two exceptions exclusively from the Czechoslovak manufacturer Škoda . In 1932 he delivered four replicas of the Prussian G 8.1 locomotives already in use in large numbers at LG and four 1'B2 'tank locomotives of the newly designed Tk series . In 1934 and 1939, Škoda also delivered ten narrow-gauge locomotives of the P4 (1'D1 ') and P5 (E- wheel arrangement ) series. The most modern locomotives of the LG were the Pacific express train locomotives of the Gp series delivered in 1938 , which, however, were left by the German occupiers in 1943 and assigned to the railways in the then Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , which used them as the 399.0 series . Otherwise, the LG vehicle fleet was still dominated by Prussian locomotive types such as the P 8 (Lithuanian series K8) or the G 8.1 (Lithuanian series P8). From 1933, the LG procured various railcars for normal and narrow gauge, the latter were mainly operated with wood gas generators . The last railcar purchases were four MAN vehicles in 1937 , which were used in express traffic between Kaunas and Klaipeda. One of the vehicles was found in West Germany after the war and classified in the VT 36 series. In 1938 the LG 802 was delivered by the Dessauer Waggonfabrik .

The last extensive changes in the LG network were triggered by the attack on Poland by the Wehrmacht and the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland . In the Hitler-Stalin Pact , Lithuania was initially assigned to the German sphere of influence. After the outbreak of the Second World War , however, this treaty was revised by the German-Soviet Border and Friendship Treaty with a change in the areas of influence. Germany received parts of eastern Poland. Lithuania was assigned to the Soviet Union . On June 15, 1940, the Red Army invaded Lithuania. The Lithuanian Socialist Republic, founded by a puppet government , joined the Union of Soviet States on August 3, 1940.

Through the said agreement, Lithuania regained the Vilnius area, along with 335 km of standard gauge lines. At the end of 1939, the LG owned 1,315 km of standard-gauge lines and 450 km of narrow-gauge lines; these were operated with 165 standard gauge and 52 narrow gauge locomotives. With the annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, the LG became part of the Soviet railways Sowetskije schelesnyje dorogi (SŽD). Within the SŽD, the Lithuanian network became part of the Baltic Railways, which until 1991 comprised the railways of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast .

Soviet era

Narrow-gauge railway Panevėžys - Rubikiai

MS Vilnius on the ferry connection Klaipeda - Sassnitz-Mukran

In 1940 the Red Army occupied Lithuania. The Soviet Lithuania was in the USSR incorporated. There was no independent existence of the railroad in Lithuania. The Lithuanian railways were integrated into the Soviet State Railways (SŽD). From March 1941, the SŽD began to switch to Russian broad gauge. After the invasion of the Wehrmacht in the course of Operation Barbarossa , the railway lines were nailed back to Central European standard gauge. With the advance of the Red Army from 1944 onwards, the routes were switched back to broad gauge (1520 mm). The tracks were not completely re-gauged until 1951. This gauge is still used today.

The SŽD adapted the railways in Lithuania to Soviet standards, especially with heavier tracks and ballast bedding, in order to do justice to the important task of feeder traffic to the Baltic seaports in Klaipeda, Liepāja, Ventspils and Riga. It expanded the Radviliškis marshalling yard extensively, and new marshalling yards were built near Vilnius and Kaunas. In addition, bypasses for freight traffic were built in both cities. In 1975 the line between Vilnius and Kaunas was electrified for suburban traffic with 25 KV / 50 Hz alternating current . In 1986 the railway ferry connection Sassnitz-Mukran – Klaipėda was opened.

In return, the narrow-gauge railways were largely shut down, and some shorter sections were switched to broad-gauge. Only the line from Panevėžys to Rubikiai, which is now operated as a museum railway, has survived. In the 1970s, the SŽD replaced the steam locomotives that had been predominantly used on the Lithuanian network by diesel locomotives and railcars.

Under the umbrella of the SŽD, the Lithuanian railways were initially run nominally independently. From 1953 to 1956 and then finally from 1963, the railways of the Baltic republics were merged as the Baltic Railroad with headquarters in Riga. These included the railways in the Kaliningrad Oblast , which had been assigned to the Lithuanian railways from 1945.

After Lithuania regained independence in 1992, the LG was re-established.

After regaining independence

On December 24, 1991, the state-owned company SPAB Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (LG) was registered. Nowadays, LG is increasingly using diesel and electric multiple units for passenger transport (in contrast to the trains that used to be hauled by locomotives). The main focus of the wide-meshed railway network is the southeast of the country. International trains as well as trains to the coast to Klaipėda are mostly driven by diesel locomotives .

There is a S-Bahn -like system of suburban trains around Vilnius and Kaunas . The most important international connections run via Daugavpils to Saint Petersburg . In the meantime, only one cross-border express train runs to Poland on the standard gauge line between Šeštokai and the Polish city of Suwałki . In addition, Lithuania is an important transit country for traffic from Russia via Belarus ( Minsk ) to Kaliningrad . The connection from Grodno / Hrodna to Vilnius, however, was cut at the state border. The transit of goods is also important. Klaipeda is an important oil port , most of which is supplied by LG.

The transport performance of LG in freight transport was 50 million tons in 2004, 53.5 million tons in 2007, of which 38% was accounted for by transit traffic between Russia and the Kaliningrad Oblast . The share in the total freight traffic could be increased from 33% to 44% in the same period. In contrast, the market share in passenger transport in the two years was only around 2%, which is divided between around 1 million passengers in long-distance transport and 6 million in local transport.

In contrast to the railways in neighboring Baltic states, the network has only been reduced to a minor extent since 1991. In 2005, the route network comprised 1,781.8 km, in 2009 it was 1,774 km, and 567 km are double-tracked. The suburban network between Vilnius and Kaunas, electrified in Soviet times, covers 122 km. Most of the network is wide-gauge, with European standard gauge only 21.8 km on the border with Poland. The remaining narrow-gauge railways, the length of which decreased from 168.8 km in 1992 to 68 km in 2009, have now been privatized and are used exclusively for tourist traffic. Long-term expansion of the railway in connection with Rail Baltica is planned.

Web links

• Litrail (Lithuanian, English, Russian)

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• Herman Gjisbert Hesselink, Norbert Tempel: Railways in the Baltic States. Lok-Report publishing house, Münster 1996, ISBN 3-921980-51-8 .
• Claus Strunden: Lithuania in the summer of 2009. In: Lok-Report . 11, 2009, pp. 44-51.

literature

• Herman Gjisbert Hesselink, Norbert Tempel: Railways in the Baltic States. Lok-Report publishing house, Münster 1996, ISBN 3-921980-51-8 .
• Baltic Railways Magazine. Issues 1 and 2 only Lithuanian / Russian, from volume 3 Lithuanian / English, link .

Individual evidence

1. ^ History
2. ↑ Hesselink, Tempel, p. 7.
3. ↑ Hesselink, Tempel, p. 38.
4. ↑ Hesselink, Tempel, p. 56.
5. ↑ Register data ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )